Here’s a moment that says everything. A reporter once asked a twelve-year-old girl if she wanted to be an actress like her famous mother.
That girl was Liza Todd, daughter of Hollywood legend Elizabeth Taylor. And she meant it.
She grew up with photographers climbing the walls of her family home. Cameras followed her everywhere, from film sets to holidays.
So she chose something else entirely. Today she’s a professional sculptor, working in bronze and living quietly in upstate New York.
Her work includes racing horses, a memorial dog made from World Trade Center debris, and art supporting rescued elephants in Africa.
In this article, we’ll look at her childhood, her father’s tragic death, her art, her family, and the private life she built.
Who Is Liza Todd?
So, who exactly is Liza Todd? In simple words, she’s the biological daughter of screen icon Elizabeth Taylor.
Her father was Mike Todd, an Oscar-winning film producer. She was the only child her parents had together.
Her full name at birth was Elizabeth Frances Todd. Family and friends have always called her Liza.
But here’s what matters most. She isn’t a celebrity, an actress, or a public personality.
She’s a working artist. Liza Todd has spent decades as a professional sculptor, best known for her bronze animal work.
She’s also a mother of two grown sons. So the honest picture is this: an artist, a mum, and someone who deliberately chose privacy over fame.
Liza Todd’s Birth and Early Childhood
Her arrival wasn’t easy. She was born by cesarean section, weighing just four pounds and 14 ounces, a tiny baby by any measure.
Her parents had married only months earlier. Elizabeth Taylor and Mike Todd wed in February 1957 in Acapulco, Mexico.
Their romance had been intense. Todd famously told Taylor she was going to marry only one man, and his name was him.
Liza was their only child together. Photographs from that time show a delighted family, with Taylor bottle-feeding her newborn beside her sons.
It looked like a happy beginning. Sadly, everything would change within months.
The Death of Her Father, Mike Todd
Liza Todd was still a baby when tragedy struck. Her father died in a plane crash in March 1958.
Mike Todd was a hugely successful producer. He’d won an Academy Award and was one of Hollywood’s biggest personalities.
The crash happened near Grants, New Mexico. His private plane, which he’d named “the Liz” after his wife, went down in bad weather.
He was travelling to New York at the time. He was due to accept a Showman of the Year award for his work.
Elizabeth Taylor had planned to go with him. She stayed home at the last minute because she had a cold.
Nobody on board survived. Liza was around six months old, far too young to form any memory of her father.
Growing Up in the Fame
Liza Todd’s childhood was anything but ordinary. From birth, she was one of the most photographed children in the world.
Her mother was among the most famous women alive. That meant cameras followed the family constantly, wherever they went.
Her brother Michael described how bad it got. At their home in Italy, photographers would climb all over the walls to get pictures.
There’s one memorable detail from those years. The children were once given permission to spray the telephoto lenses peering over the wall with a garden hose.
Security was part of daily life too. Liza and her sister Maria had guards around them, since Taylor was fiercely protective of her children.
Her mother tried hard to shield them. As one biographer noted, her brother Christopher said their mother protected them from the circus.
But you can’t hide from that much attention forever. Growing up this way gave Liza a deep and lasting dislike of the spotlight.
Liza Todd’s Adoption by Richard Burton
The family changed again in the 1960s. Elizabeth Taylor married actor Richard Burton in 1964, in a private ceremony.
Burton became a father figure to Taylor’s children. He went on to legally adopt Liza as his own daughter.
Because of that, she’s sometimes referred to as Liza Todd Burton. Both names appear in coverage of her over the years.
She’s honoured that connection publicly, too. In March 2013, she attended a ceremony marking Richard Burton receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Her family was a large, blended one. She grew up alongside half-brothers Michael and Christopher Wilding, from her mother’s earlier marriage.
She also had a sister, Maria, whom Taylor adopted and Burton later adopted as well. Together they made a close family of four children.
Liza Todd’s Education
Liza Todd’s schooling took her far from Hollywood. As a child, she attended a private boarding school in Gstaad, Switzerland.
That gave her some distance from the cameras. Still, she spent plenty of time on her mother’s film sets during holidays and breaks.
She did try acting, briefly. She took part in school productions, though it never really suited her.
She also has one small screen credit. Liza appeared in the 1969 film Anne of the Thousand Days, which starred her adoptive father, Richard Burton.
But her real interest lay elsewhere. She went on to study at Hornsey College of Art in London, a respected art school.
She then crossed the Atlantic to continue. She studied at the Otis Institute of Art and Design in Los Angeles, finishing her training around 1979.
Liza Todd’s Career as a Sculptor
After completing her studies, Liza Todd began working professionally as a sculptor. That was around 1979, and she’s been at it ever since.
Bronze became her material of choice. It’s a demanding medium that requires patience, skill, and a real understanding of form.
Her main subject? Animals, and horses above all.
Liza has loved horses since childhood, and that passion shaped her whole career. Her equestrian bronzes are what she’s best known for.
Her work found a serious audience. She’s received private commissions from the owners of purebred racing champions, capturing famous horses in bronze.
That’s meaningful recognition. When someone commissions a sculpture of a champion racehorse, they want an artist who truly understands the animal.
Her Most Famous Sculptures
Some of Liza Todd’s pieces stand out well beyond private collections.
One is a life-size calf, cast in bronze, created for the village of Gstaad in Switzerland. It’s a public work in the town where she went to school.
Another piece carries far more weight. Liza created a life-size sculpture of a rescue dog in memory of the September 11 attacks.
What makes it remarkable is the material. The sculpture was made using debris from the World Trade Center itself.
That choice turns wreckage into tribute. It honours the search and rescue dogs who worked at the site alongside their handlers.
Across all her work, one quality stands out. She captures how animals actually move and hold themselves, which comes from genuine observation rather than imagination.
Liza Todd’s Work for African Wildlife
In recent years, Liza Todd’s art has taken on a new purpose. Around 2016, she turned her attention to African wildlife.
Elephants became her focus. She began working with HERD, an elephant orphanage in South Africa that cares for rescued young elephants.
Her artwork from this period was shown publicly. The exhibition was called From Line to Form: the Jabulani Elephants.
Then in 2019, she found a way to turn that art into direct help. She created a line of Rescue Scarves.
The scarves feature elephant and cheetah designs, drawn from the artwork she made for the exhibition. They’re beautiful pieces in their own right.
Here’s the best part. All of the profits went straight to helping endangered animals in South Africa, including elephants and cheetahs.
Liza Todd’s Marriage and Sons
Liza Todd married fellow artist Hap Tivey in 1984. He’s a well-regarded contemporary painter whose work has appeared in galleries and museums.
Together they had two sons. Quinn Tivey was born in 1986, and Rhys Tivey followed in 1991.
The couple raised their family in upstate New York, far from Los Angeles and the entertainment world.
Their marriage ended in 2003 after nearly twenty years. But the story doesn’t end badly.
By all reports, they remained on good terms. The two reportedly still live near each other in upstate New York.
That kind of amicable arrangement takes effort. It also fits the low-key, sensible way Liza has handled most things in her life.
Her Sons’ Work Today
Liza Todd’s sons have both built creative careers, and both honour their grandmother’s legacy.
Quinn Tivey holds an MFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York. He’s also worked behind the scenes in film and television production.
Since 2016, he’s served as a co-trustee of Elizabeth Taylor’s estate. He’s also worked on an archive of her life and career.
He’s deeply involved in her charitable work too. Quinn is closely tied to the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation, continuing a cause his grandmother championed for decades.
He’s spoken warmly about her. He remembers her not as a superstar, but as a loving grandmother he’d watch movies with in bed.
Rhys Tivey took the musical route. He’s a trumpeter, songwriter and vocalist with a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Performance from NYU Steinhardt.
He released his first album in 2020. Rhys is also an ambassador for the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation, a yoga teacher, and an advocate on climate change.
Liza Todd’s Life Today
So, where is Liza Todd now? She lives quietly in upstate New York, a few hours from Manhattan.
Her home life sounds peaceful. Reports describe a modest house surrounded by animals, despite her family’s considerable wealth.
She has no social media presence. There’s no Instagram account, no public posts, and no interviews about her private world.
She continues to work as a sculptor. Her art remains the centre of her professional life.
One thing worth noting, though. Her longtime representative, Jeanne Chisholm, said Liza doesn’t have a persecution complex about being Elizabeth Taylor’s daughter.
She genuinely enjoyed working with her mother, too. The two collaborated on projects together, including a jewellery line, and Chisholm said Liza thoroughly enjoyed those.
So this isn’t a story of someone running from her family. It’s simply someone who preferred a quieter life.
Interesting Facts About Liza Todd
- Full name: Elizabeth Frances Todd, known as Liza.
- Born: August 6, 1957.
- Parents: Elizabeth Taylor and producer Mike Todd.
- Adoptive father: Richard Burton.
- Education: Hornsey College of Art, London, and the Otis Institute, Los Angeles.
- Career: Professional sculptor, working mainly in bronze.
- Known for: Equestrian sculptures, a 9/11 rescue dog memorial, and elephant conservation art.
- Marriage: Artist Hap Tivey, 1984 to 2003.
- Sons: Quinn Tivey and Rhys Tivey.
- Home: Upstate New York.
Bottom Line
So, what’s the real story of Liza Todd? She’s an artist who happens to have a very famous mother.
Her early life gave her every reason to avoid the spotlight. She lost her father as a baby and grew up with photographers scaling the garden walls.
So she picked a different road. She studied art in London and Los Angeles, then spent decades quietly building a career in bronze.
Her work has real meaning behind it too. Champion racehorses, a memorial to the rescue dogs of September 11, and art that helps rescued elephants in Africa.
In the end, Liza Todd reminds us of something worth remembering. A famous surname can open doors, but what you make with your own hands is what truly lasts.
(FAQs)
How old is Liza Todd?
She was born on August 6, 1957, which makes her 68 years old in 2026. Her zodiac sign is Leo.
Who was Liza Todd’s father?
Her father was Mike Todd, an Academy Award-winning film producer. He died in a plane crash in March 1958, when Liza was around six months old.
Was Liza Todd adopted by Richard Burton?
Yes. After Richard Burton married Elizabeth Taylor in 1964, he adopted Liza. She’s sometimes referred to as Liza Todd Burton.
Is Liza Todd an actress?
No. She has one small credit in the 1969 film Anne of the Thousand Days, but she chose art instead and has worked as a sculptor since around 1979.
What is Liza Todd famous for making?
She’s best known for equestrian bronzes, a life-size bronze calf in Gstaad, and a rescue dog sculpture honouring September 11 made from World Trade Center debris.
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